Nicola Marsh delivers a romantic comedy with heart. I so enjoyed “The Boy Toy” and connected with her main characters Sam & Rory in ways that both delighted and enlightened. I appreciated learning about Samira’s experiences as an Australian of Indian & American descent and the multi cultural world she navigates, and Rory’s own journey of self acceptance. I especially salivated over the delicious descriptions of culinary treats they enjoy while in Melbourne with family. Well worth the read on many levels!

When I got this book I was expecting a simple light hearted read, but this book offers so much more than that. It is fairly rare to see a romance heroine who is almost 40 and a divorcee but Samira is a pure delight to read about. This book deftly weaves the romance with issues of fertility (for two different characters no less), age gaps in relationships, and overcoming lifelong struggles. This book is rather steamy, as one would expect from a romance novel, but it has so much more to offer the reader and has a well developed relationship. I also like that it discusses and explores M/F friendships and the expectations and insecurities many people place on those platonic relationships. Honestly this is one of my favorite romance reads of the year so far and I read it all in one sitting. I would highly recommend this to a patron or anyone else looking for a light hearted read that still has real world issues present.

As a 47-year-old single woman of color, I appreciate reading a sexy romance with an older heroine finding love and having a healthy sex life. Love, dating, and sex doesn't stop at age 30! It was refreshing to read a romance featuring a May-December romance where the "December" is an accomplished woman. The hero wasn't perfect. He had a stutter and the heroine suffered with infertility. Nicola Marsh did an excellent job of weaving these challenges throughout the story while providing us with a sexy romance with characters we don't normally get to see. I am already recommending this book to my romance reading colleagues and friends. I will definitely be purchasing this is a customer and encouraging my library system to purchase it for the collection. (And to do a virtual book club around it!)

I’m feeling a deja vu right now! One week ago I read Ties that tether, a woman is forced to marry with a man from own culture and she attends blind dates with candidates but later she has one night stand with a charming white guy and her growing attraction to him puts her inappropriate situation: she needs to choose between her heart and family’s wishes to draw her future path. (Both books’ covers have some resemblances made me think they share the same illustrator.)

At this book: our heroine is suffering from similar predicament. But of course there are remarkable differences about her story. First of all: she already obeyed her family’s wishes and unhappily married with an Indian man and happily divorced from him.

Other difference is as I mentioned before, heroine’s the mother side of ancestors are Indian. Her world is already torn between two cultures: her father is white American and Indian side of her family are really unreasonable about Samira’s love life choices.

Samira is in her mid thirties and her one night stand , 10 years younger hot Aussie boy toy Rory is her new customer who hired her as dialect coach.

Samira is still under pressure of her family’s demands to force her to remarry with a man from her cultural background but even though there is 10 years age difference, she cannot help herself to attract to Rory who is a stuntman and who’s dreaming to be a movie star but his speech problems push him back to reach his dreams.

As Samira professionally helps him, bringing out his bottled up emotions. As he starts opening up about his true feelings, they become closer and form a beautiful bounding. I have to admit I loved both of the characters. Especially Rory is so much likable, honest, sincere book boyfriend. I even thought to give five stars to this story because of rooting for him so passionately. He’s truly amazing!

Emotional depth of the story and the sweet, pure romance between the characters made me love this book more.

The plot line can have some similarities with other books but the story’s progression and the well developed, heart stealing characters and poignant conclusion of the story without so much unnecessary angst and drama made this book unique. (I also enjoyed the age difference part! )

Overall: Easy, quick, entertaining, heartwarming reading for me! I highly recommend to feel good book fans and romcom lovers.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this sweet ARC with me in exchange my honest opinions.

My first foray with this author and boy(pun intended) I was not disappointed. Samira comes from two worlds, her mother who is Indian and a dad who is White American. Years ago she allowed her mother to arrange for her to have a "nice Indian marriage that ended up into a divorce. Fast forward a dozen years later she has returned to her home Australia for six months to help her cousin Pia with her Physical Therapist job. During a night at a bar she meets Rory a young white Australian built man who she becomes over a course of weeks smitten with. Samira has to face a mother and their Indian community who still wants her to be married to a "nice Indian man". We the audience get a clear view of how one's culture can wreak havoc in one life if they do not live up to their families heritage. I could feel Samira emotions as she tries to navigate being from and Indian background and at the same being Australian/American. I love the hero Rory he is so believable and honest about who he is and although not originally setting out for a relationship with Samira but making himself be available to her when she needed him. Reviews on goodreads and amazon.com

I loved Rory from that first tossed wine. And Sam is just awesome. Both have so much from their past that they're dealing with, and their story is just beautiful. I loved it, and I also loved that while he's younger, it's only ten years, because I'm not a cougar lol! Can't wait to read more from this author!